By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Since the Porter Cowboys had spring ball back in May, they weren’t among the majority of football teams around the state opening fall workouts Aug. 3.
The Cowboys, along with other squads that played spring ball such as Pace and Lopez, began their fall workouts Monday and wasted little time getting back into the swing of things.
“Reading the paper and watching the (TV) news and seeing everybody else practicing last week (was tough), but I think we did a good job in the spring of preparing ourselves,” third-year Porter coach Tom Campos said. “We knew we were going to be a week behind in other people’s minds, but we think what we did in the spring more than made up for starting (fall) workouts one week after the others started. We’re ready to go.”
The Cowboys, 2-8 one season ago, had 40 players practicing Monday afternoon in T-shirts, shorts and helmets. They’ll practice at 9:15 a.m. daily the rest of the week and don pads Friday, which is the day they’ll play an intrasquad scrimmage.
The team’s only scrimmage against an outside opponent will be Aug. 20 against Raymondville on the Porter campus. The Cowboys open the season at Progreso on Aug. 28.
Campos said what he likes the most about his current group is the experience. There are 19 seniors. The Cowboys have eight starters back on offense and seven returning on defense.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who were here as sophomores when I came (and now they’re seniors),” the Porter coach sad. “Those guys have 20 games of varsity experience, and our junior class, a lot of them played as sophomores last year, so they have 10 games of varsity experience. We’re bringing back a lot of experience, although it’s not necessarily (just) with the (returning) starters. We have more than 25 players back who lettered last year.”
One of the experienced returnees is senior Ernie Martinez, a 5-foot-7, 164-pounder who started at wide receiver as a sophomore and junior. He’s now getting the call to start at quarterback and figures to be a dual threat with his running and passing.
“It feels great (to get started),” Martinez said. “Going through the summer and doing what we did but not having the pads on was a little boring. I wasn’t real happy. Once the day came (to begin fall workouts) I was happy. I’m looking forward to getting all the pads on (Friday) and start working at it (to get better).
“I think we can do really well,” Martinez added. “Most of us have been playing together since we were small, so coming into this year makes us feel a lot more confident because it’s another year that we get to play together. We’ve been friends forever. We’re going to have real good team chemistry, and I feel the season’s going to go great.”
Added fellow senior Daniel Puga, a 5-foot-5, 194-pound middle linebacker and two-year starter, “It feels awesome to be back and practicing. I speak for everyone, especially the seniors, when I say that it means a lot (to be starting another season). For the seniors, it’s our last year and hopefully we can build the foundation for better things in the future here at Porter.”
Armando Payan is yet another senior who participated in voluntary summer workouts. He’s glad to see the fall season get under way as well.
“We worked all summer long, and we accomplished a lot,” said Payan, a 5-9, 155-pound returning starter who plays safety, cornerback, receiver and on special teams. “It’s awesome to come out here and show what we built (and worked) on during the summer.
“The best thing about this team is the discipline we have (now),” he added. “We’ve all grown up (as football players). We don’t have to (just) focus on the pass anymore. We want to build a new program and continue to become more successful.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.